The Night Frank Barnhart Kissed Everyone
by James Lehman
Chris Hixon, cochair of the Out In Akron committee, put the
word out that he was looking for sponsors to help fund the
activities planned for the first, history-making, Akron, National
Coming Out Day weekend. Terry, my partner, called him and said
that Extra Stimulus Inc. would like to contribute to the Out In Akron
Film Night event reception. Chris said that another company had
already offered to provide for that, but the play, The Night Larry
Kramer Kissed Me, had not been covered yet. Terry said OK, we'll
do that instead. We could not have picked a better event to
sponsor. Best of all, it was free to the public. All you had to do was
show up for it and you would have been a part of the most
meaningful stage performance you may have ever seen.
The play was written by David Drake and was performed by
Frank Barnhart. There was one man on the stage with almost no
props --certainly nothing custom made for this show, no costumes
but the clothes he was wearing, and only a cassette boom-box
center stage for audio accompaniment.
It begins in 1969 when the lead character, the only character, is
six years old --right at the time of the Stonewall Riot in NYC --
although our character is not aware of this or what it means. The
story is somewhere between a narrative, with the man telling his
story from the third person perspective, and an enactment with the
man acting as himself. It takes us through everything from his
childhood memories of innocent fascination with dance, fashion,
and music, his realization that he was different from most boys --
and yet similar to some others, his moving away from home and
coming out --the title of the play refers to when he saw his first
gay-themed play written by Larry Kramer--, his introduction to the
gay bar scene, dating, dancing, drinking, body-building, redefining
himself as a gay man in the gay scene with a reputation, chasing
after the illusive gay man's lifestyle. Much of this is very
romanticized and is full of good humor and thought provoking
realism. The depiction of all of this is a fantastic balance between
just how cool it all really is and how chaotic and self destructive it
can be. It is all presented in a series of scenes of conversations
with imaginary people in a gay bar, a rhythmic chant, in a march-
like cadence during a workout session in a gym, and a sort-of rap-
like number, not really sung, done to a high energy gay bar dance
tune about personal ads that kept getting more and more bizarre
and daring as it went along. He left the stage for a moment and
when he returned the mood had change dramatically to the tone of
the terrible "lullaby", the rapture of AIDS. He moved slowly around
the stage lighting candles as he said goodbye to all of the friends
and lovers that he had lost. This part was particularly difficult to
watch and brought many people in the audience to tears. It was
full of not just sorrow, but great anger as well --anger largely at our
government's lack of response to the crisis. The final part of the
play had a really neat twist to it. He reminisces about major events
in gay cultural history that haven't even happened yet. The farthest
reaching date that he describes is the dedication ceremony for the
opening of the Gay Cultural Studies Wing of The Smithsonian
Institution in 2007. What a beautiful way to depict the gay civil
rights and cultural movement --where we came from, where we
have gone and where we are headed in the future, all in the
metaphor of a man's life time from childhood through adolescence
to young adult to mature adult.
David Drake's writing of the script couldn't have been more
complete and meaningful. It presented things in a way that was
very fresh, original and avant garde. AWESOME is the word. Frank
Barnhart's performance was simply flawless. He had reams of
dialogue to remember and no one else on stage to give him any
cues. He never missed a beat. He was obviously very emotionally
connected with his portrayal of this character. Never have I seen
an audience so captivated by a performer. The theater was
absolutely silent throughout most of the performance --only
breaking the silence with outbursts of spontaneous emotional
response. Everyone's attention was riveted to the stage. As soon
as the play was over, everyone leapt to their feet for a standing
ovation. As the people made their way out of the theater, there was
an overwhelming sense that we had all been a part of something
profoundly important. This was an event that people would
contemplate for a long time. JL :o)
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